What a season it has been for 28-year-old Deck McGuire. He was an unheralded free agent signing for the Cincinnati Reds right before spring training on a minor league deal. Little was made of it and it was just seen as a minor league depth, likely to help fill out a rotation in the minors.
Whoops. Deck McGuire took his new opportunity by the horns. And he ran with it. And he didn’t stop. He dominated the Double-A Southern League all season and helped lead them to a league championship. His performance caught all of the right eyes and after the Pensacola Blue Wahoos celebrated their championship on the field his next stop would be even better. After seven seasons in the minors, he was finally getting called up to the Major Leagues.
For Deck McGuire, who’s always been a starting pitcher, his time with the Reds has resulted in four relief appearances. In that span he’s thrown 5.2 shutout innings, allowed just two hits and he’s struck out four batters. The results have been strong in limited action.
Tonight, however, he may double his workload in the big leagues in one outing. That’s because Deck McGuire is getting the first start of his Major League career. The right hander will take on the Milwaukee Brewers at 7:40pm on the road. The Brewers are fighting for their playoff lives, currently 1.5 games back for the 2nd wild card spot.
What can we expect to see from Deck McGuire tonight? Well, that’s a tough question. This is his first start, but it’s not his first game, so perhaps the adrenaline won’t be getting to him as much as it may have otherwise. As a starter in Double-A, and as a reliever thus far in the Major Leagues, he’s pounded the strikezone.
From a stuff perspective, we know he’s going to throw a fastball, change up, slider and curveball. As a reliever his fastball has averaged 94.1 MPH and topped out at 95.6 MPH. As a reliever he could let it go without worrying much about having to conserve some stamina for later. Tonight I’d expect him to sit a little bit lower as a starter as he will be pacing himself to get through six innings. He’s gone with his slider as his main secondary offering, mixing in the change up and curveball a combined 13% of the time. I’d guess that we see a similar split in his usage tonight – 60% fastball, 25% slider and 15% curve/change mix.